London , England -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- They do n't call it being `` sent to Siberia '' for nothing .

We learned this on the first day of our trip to Novokuznetsk , in the western part of this 5.1 million square-mile region of Russia , while filming a documentary about how and why the youth of this economically depressed city were in the death grip of a heroin epidemic .

It 's a story squarely at odds with the rebranding of Russian youth as prosperous super humans living in a world of money , success and freedom . In reality , Russia now consumes 21 percent of the world 's heroin . And with a southern border more than 4,000 miles long , an area greater than the distance from New York to London , it 's little wonder that Moscow 's attempts at interdiction have largely failed .

A sense of Soviet-era poverty pervades in Novokuznetsk : the moldering grey housing blocks , the wake-up call of barking wild dogs , the 6 a.m. hotel breakfasts of Spam and hard-fried eggs speckled with dill . But we were n't here for fun . No one has much fun here .

Before we set off on our trip , we heard whispers of a new drug called krokodil -- a synthetic opiate made by mixing petrol , codeine pills , and eye drops -- that earned its reptilian nickname by turning users ' skin scaly , eating them from the inside , and rotting the brain and limbs , before precipitating a painful death .

When researching the krokodil story , we heard grim tales of zombified addicts building DIY coffins to bury their friends , disfigured and brain-damaged ex-users , and religious cults disguised as rehab clinics . During a weeklong trip to Novokuznetsk , we found all of this -- and more .

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Russian city of Novokuznetsk in ` death grip ' of drug epidemic

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Drug called ` krokodil ' gaining popularity ; has devastating effects on users

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VICE goes to Novokuznetsk to see firsthand those addicted